Inventory management system

Abstract

A statistical inventory management system may optimize inventory investment using historical usage and/or consumption of an inventory component by determining one or more target inventory levels (e.g., replenishment levels). Historical usage data may be summed for a plurality of at least partially non-overlapping time periods that may be each equal in duration to a supplier lead-time period for the component to create lead-time usage data. The lead-time usage data may be utilized to more accurately determine future inventory levels (e.g., target inventory levels) because the lead-time usage data may have a reduced variance compared to, for example, day-to-day usage. The inventory management system may be employable by a computing system having a display module (e.g., GUI) that allows a user to receive at least one graphical representation indicative of at least one target inventory level of at least one inventory component (e.g., by selectively interacting with the display module).

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An inventory control system for determining a target inventory level of at least one component of a product, comprising:
 a non-transitory computer readable medium including a target inventory module having computer readable instructions that are employable to determine a plurality of target inventory levels for the at least one component at least in part by analyzing usage data for the at least one component, wherein the computer readable instructions determine the plurality of target inventory levels by:
 obtaining a plurality of chronologically-arranged usage data points for the at least one component; 
 identifying any of the chronologically-arranged usage data points comprising a value higher than a predetermined threshold value; 
 reducing the value of any identified chronologically-arranged usage data points to create corresponding reduced chronologically-arranged usage data points, wherein chronologically-arranged usage data points that have not been reduced comprise non-reduced chronologically-arranged usage data points; 
 summing, for each of a plurality of at least partially different time periods that each have a common duration equal to a supplier lead-time for the at least one component, reduced and non-reduced chronologically-arranged usage data points over the time period to create a plurality of corresponding bucketed lead-time data points; and 
 determining the plurality of target inventory levels from the plurality of bucketed lead-time data points; 
 
 a processor that employs the computer readable instructions to determine the plurality of target inventory levels; and 
 a display, in communication with the processor, that provides at least one graphical representation indicative of at least one of the plurality of chronologically-arranged usage data points, bucketed lead-time data points, and target inventory levels as a function of time. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the target inventory module includes computer readable instructions that determine that a quantity of the identified chronologically-arranged usage data points is less than a threshold number of chronologically-arranged usage data points before the value of each of the identified chronologically-arranged usage data points is reduced. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the threshold value comprises a total of an average value and a standard deviation of at least some of the plurality of chronologically-arranged usage data points for the at least one component. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 3 , wherein the average value is determined utilizing both zero and non-zero chronologically-arranged usage data point values. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 3 , wherein the average value is determined utilizing only non-zero chronologically-arranged usage data point values. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 3 , wherein the computer readable instructions that operable to reduce include computer readable instructions that are operable to reduce the identified usage data point down to at least the average value. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computer readable instructions that operable to reduce include computer readable instructions that are operable to reduce the identified usage data point down to zero. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer readable instructions that operable to reduce include computer readable instructions that are operable to reduce the identified usage data point down to at least the predetermined threshold value. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the computer readable medium further comprises computer readable instructions that are employable by the processor to:
 determine an actual inventory level for said at least one component; 
 compare said actual inventory level to at least one of said target inventory levels; and 
 generate an order for an additional quantity of said at least one component when the actual inventory level is substantially equal to or less than said at least one of said target inventory levels. 
 
     
     
       10. The system of  claim 9 , wherein the actual inventory level comprises on-hand inventory and on-order inventory for the at least one component. 
     
     
       11. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the processor employs the computer readable instructions to obtain an average of the bucketed lead-time data points, wherein a first of the plurality of target inventory levels comprises the average of the bucketed lead-time data points. 
     
     
       12. An inventory control system for determining a target inventory level of at least one component of a product, comprising:
 a non-transitory computer readable medium including a target inventory module having computer readable instructions that are employable to determine a plurality of target inventory levels for the at least one component at least in part by analyzing usage data for the at least one component, wherein the computer readable instructions are operable to determine the plurality of target inventory levels by:
 obtaining a plurality of chronologically-arranged usage data points for another component; 
 correlating the chronologically-arranged usage data points for the another component with the at least one component; 
 summing, for each of a plurality of at least partially different time periods that each have a common duration equal to a supplier lead-time for the at least one component, the correlated, chronologically-arranged usage data points over the time period to create a plurality of corresponding bucketed lead-time data points; and 
 determining the plurality of target inventory levels for the at least one component from the plurality of bucketed lead-time data points; 
 
 a processor that is operable to employ the computer readable instructions to determine the plurality of target inventory levels; and 
 a display, in communication with the processor, that provides at least one graphical representation indicative of at least one of the plurality of chronologically-arranged usage data points, bucketed lead-time data points, and target inventory levels as a function of time. 
 
     
     
       13. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the at least one component is a replacement part for the another component. 
     
     
       14. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the computer readable medium further comprises computer readable instructions that are employable by the processor to:
 determine an actual inventory level for said at least one component; 
 compare said actual inventory level to at least one of said target inventory levels; and 
 generate an order for an additional quantity of said at least one component when the actual inventory level is substantially equal to or less than said at least one of said target inventory levels. 
 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 14 , wherein the actual inventory level comprises on-hand inventory and on-order inventory for the at least one component. 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 12 , wherein the processor employs the computer readable instructions to obtain an average of the bucketed lead-time data points, wherein a first of the plurality of target inventory levels comprises the average of the bucketed lead-time data points.